Emirates flight is forced to turn back

PASSENGERS on board an Emirates A380 flight from Sydney say they saw a bright orange flash and felt the plane shake in a mid-air scare less than an hour after take-off.

The problem, believed to have been caused by one of the plane's engines, occurred on Flight EK413 bound for Dubai which departed Sydney at 9.45pm on Sunday.

Fairfax Media motoring journalist Matt Campbell, who was on board the plane, said the aircraft was still ascending when the incident occurred.

''It seemed about half an hour in to the flight when I saw a bright orange flash, heard a loud bang and there was a big thump through the cabin,'' he said. ''The flight attendants were rushing about through the cabin and then eventually the PA came on and the captain said there was an engine problem with engine number three and that engine had now been shut down.''

Campbell said others on board the flight heard the issue may have been caused by a bird strike.

''I didn't see flames but the flash that I saw would be consistent with an engine exploding,'' he said.

''It was a bright orange light, I didn't see it for more than a split second, but it was still a very scary sight.''

Campbell said the captain spoke with Emirates in Dubai to determine if the plane could still complete the journey. A short time later, an announcement was made that the plane would turn back around and land in Sydney.

The plane touched down in Sydney at 11.30pm on Sunday . ''It was a safe landing, there were no issues after the fact, but it was still a bit of a scary experience,'' he said.

Emirates said the problem was ''an engine fault''.

Meanwhile a Virgin Australia plane bound for Cairns also turned back to Sydney Airport on Sunday night after the pilot reported an odour in the cockpit.

A Virgin spokeswoman said the pilot of the Embraer E-190 decided to turn back as a precautionary measure and the flight with about 100 people aboard landed without incident.